Iraq: MoD to open brain unit to treat blast injuries

The Ministry of Defence is to open a medical unit to treat troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with mild brain injuries caused by high-powered explosions or blows to the head. The facility, to be based at the Headley Court military rehabilitation centre in Surrey will deal with those suffering from mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), which can lead to memory loss, depression and anxiety.

The US military designated mTBI one of four "signature injuries" of the Iraq war and plans for the new UK centre were unveiled as part of a study into the impact of mTBI on the British armed forces published yesterday. The report found that since 2003 more than 500 troops have suffered from mTBI, with a further 26 cases uncovered this year. The defence minister Derek Twigg, said: "It is a very important issue and anything that affects our service personnel is taken very seriously indeed. That is why we are spending a lot of time and effort looking into this and continuing our research into it."

The Guardian revealed last year that the MoD had launched the study after the US army said up to 20% of its soldiers and marines were suffering from the condition. Yesterday Twigg said initial findings indicated far fewer UK personnel had been affected, but he could not explain the discrepancy between the US and UK figures. "There may be a number of reasons, from the length of the tours of duty to their soldiers' experience or their age range... we have not actually got an answer."

Last night campaign groups and MPs warned that the report may have underestimated the number of UK troops at risk.

"There is a huge discrepancy between the US and UK results which indicates that there is faulty methodology somewhere," said the Conservative defence spokesman, Liam Fox.